Beta 013: Renormalization

[[violet]]

Beta 013: Renormalization

Proposed Change: Correct a flaw in a scaling algorithm that can cause displayed scores to move very rapidly within a particular window, despite only modest moves in the underlying value. Affects many scales to different degrees. This beta is not comprehensive and previews only the most significant changes. This is a monotonic change; i.e. it will alter scores but not ranks.

This is a big change in that it will affect many nations, many different scales, and can move values quite significantly. However, it doesn't change ranks, so if you're 3,524th in the world for something today, you still will be afterward.

I've added charts to the "Sample Test" pages of each beta, to help visualize the proposed changes.

[Eluvatar]

For Most Beautiful Environments it appears to merely move the point where it jumps:

Edit: looking again, maybe it's fine. But it didn't look as improved as the other graphs >_>

[[violet]]

You're looking at a sample of only 50 nations, so it won't always be smooth.

[Trotterdam]

It seems that none of my stats would be changed at all, presumably because none of them are in the unstable range. This applies to all of my currently-active nations.

So, yay?

However, a random sample test suggests that around half of nations would see changes on any given stat.

[Almonaster Nuevo]

Looking good in general.

Another area you might want to look at in this regard is political apathy. There seems to be a large unstable area in the middle of the range. (Check my stats and you'll see what I mean).

[[violet]]

Another area you might want to look at in this regard is political apathy. There seems to be a large unstable area in the middle of the range. (Check my stats and you'll see what I mean).

Yes, you're right! I've added it to the beta.

This beta is a little different to the others, as for technical reasons it can't auto-preview all the changes adequately. I have to manually specify the scales to show. I didn't notice Apathy is one of the most-affected ones. I've now added Lowest Crime Rates and Inclusiveness as well.

[Almonaster Nuevo]

Would it be possible to put a click-to-sort on the columns?

No biggie, but a nice-to-have when looking for biggest effects, etc. I believe there is a way to set it up so that the work is done client-side, but I don't know how.

[Mostrov]

‎

[[violet]]

Will this effect environmental beauty for my nation?

It affects Environmental Beauty between around 5 and 500 Pounds of Wildlife per Square Mile, and you're currently on 642PW/m, so won't be affected.

Under Renormalization, your last chart above would have shown a much steadier rise toward your current value, rather than all that leaping up and back.

[Buckerino]

What I don't understand is how the Political Apathy works - is it a percentage, a number, ratio? What is it supposed to be?

[Finswedeway]

Could you explain the strangely high corruption jumps in some nations?

[[violet]]

What I don't understand is how the Political Apathy works - is it a percentage, a number, ratio? What is it supposed to be?

The World Census measures Political Apathy in Whatever units, which I believe is an index designed by prominent social economist Jeffrey Whatever. A "normal" nation scores about 50 Whatevers, while nations with less politically engaged citizens have more Whatevers.

In the end, it's an arbitrary scale, not a measurement of a real-world outcome.

Could you explain the strangely high corruption jumps in some nations?

The current ranking is flawed as a nation that steadily increases its internal corruption over time won't see that reflected in its World Census Corruption chart: instead, it will see a fairly flat line followed by a sudden increase. This beta corrects that flaw. It causes large changes in some nations because they are quite close to the "sudden increase" part of the chart but not quite there.

It's important to note that this beta doesn't change ranks; i.e. if the #10,000th ranked nation gets a big boost out of this change, it will still be ranked #10,000 afterward, because all the nations around rank #10,000 will also receive a similarly-sized boost.

[Galactic Furs]

Have seen some as, whoops I made a mistake and killed the auto industry. And end up with Basket making as number one. Thus, trying to figure how to get something higher up than basket making as what decisions move the numbers back. Certain nations had found spoilers and fluke their nation to have what seem too many top ratings?

True, in some cases can bounce up and down fast - but most numbers seem stuck in a small range after a period of time a nation is here.

Can't look at young nations, need to look at those here a period of time.

Founding a new puppet nation, it becomes easy to bounce ratings-likely all the more so if you have the results known.

True - 800/questions adds more than what I recall seeing in the cheat list, and I did not seek out reading it for such kills the fun of the game.......

[Liberated Free Nations]

When you answer issues to try and raise a stat like, say, Ideological Radicality, which tops out at a flat number that is easy for many nations to get, it seems just impossible to reach #1 in the world no matter how many issues you actually answer, unless all the nations ahead of you simply CTE. Is there a possibility where nations that have answered the most number of radicalizing, authoritarianizing, or other sort of issues are prioritized on the list over secondary puppets that answer only one or two, or is it a system limitation?

It seems to me like it would make more sense for nations to be able to compete for the top spot.

[Goldenmouth]

When you answer issues to try and raise a stat like, say, Ideological Radicality, which tops out at a flat number that is easy for many nations to get, it seems just impossible to reach #1 in the world no matter how many issues you actually answer, unless all the nations ahead of you simply CTE. Is there a possibility where nations that have answered the most number of radicalizing, authoritarianizing, or other sort of issues are prioritized on the list over secondary puppets that answer only one or two, or is it a system limitation?

It seems to me like it would make more sense for nations to be able to compete for the top spot.

As someone who competes for the top spot in census rankings, I can tell you that it is possible to reach #1 for Ideological Radicality by answering issues. The issues editor Candlewhisper Archive has a puppet, DoNoHarm, that reached #1 for Ideological Radicality by answering issues. The farthest I got with my puppets was 13th in the world.

[Merconitonitopia]

What I don't understand is how the Political Apathy works - is it a percentage, a number, ratio? What is it supposed to be?

abstract number, like most stats.

[Liberated Free Nations]

When you answer issues to try and raise a stat like, say, Ideological Radicality, which tops out at a flat number that is easy for many nations to get, it seems just impossible to reach #1 in the world no matter how many issues you actually answer, unless all the nations ahead of you simply CTE. Is there a possibility where nations that have answered the most number of radicalizing, authoritarianizing, or other sort of issues are prioritized on the list over secondary puppets that answer only one or two, or is it a system limitation?

It seems to me like it would make more sense for nations to be able to compete for the top spot.

As someone who competes for the top spot in census rankings, I can tell you that it is possible to reach #1 for Ideological Radicality by answering issues. The issues editor Candlewhisper Archive has a puppet, DoNoHarm, that reached #1 for Ideological Radicality by answering issues. The farthest I got with my puppets was 13th in the world.

That is a relief to hear... I'll redouble my efforts.